Page 46 of Our Little Dove

I keep my mouth shut and watch her every move like a hawk. She grabs a handful of his dark hair and tugs until he is looking her in the eye.

Rage-filled tears linger in his eyes as he is forced to look at her, but he remains silent still. He looks like he’s about to lose himself to the anger coiling around his body. I want to help him.

“Your phone call was sweet, and for what it’s worth, I missed you too,” she purrs and leans in to flick her tongue over his lips before shoving his head to the side and starting toward the stairs. “I was planning a reunion with you boys soon but tonightjust seemed like fate. You practically did all the work for me,” she winks at me before continuing. “I’ll be back in a few hours for our game, pets, get some more rest. You’ll need it.”

When she’s upstairs and I hear the deadbolt lock into place, I glare at Kieran. “What fucking phone call?”

He looks at me from under his disheveled hair for long moments before finally speaking. “I must have called her when she drugged me. I don’t fucking remember.”

“Fuck!” I growl, the sound echoes off the walls as I angrily slam my back against the wall.

There’s a loud beep coming from somewhere, then her voice cuts through our silence. “Sleep tight.” I frantically look around and notice the cameras she has all around the room.

Fucking bitch!

Smoke starts to fill the air, blasting through the vents and minutes later, my vision starts to dot as I cough. She’s drugging us again.

Well played, Dove, noxious gas is a nice touch.

Quickly, everything around me is swallowed by darkness as I slump against the concrete with a thud.

While I wait for the gas to completely be extracted from the basement, I email the firm to inform them I will be taking leave for the next few weeks. Luckily I am one of the few people working remotely and I just so happen to have nearly two weeks’ worth of PTO.

After informing my employer of my impromptu decision to useallof my leave, I go through Kieran and Fintan’s phones. Kieran had one phone on him, but Fintan had two. I found the second phone tucked into one of his boots.

Their “work” phone perhaps?

The mystery phone has a passcode and I am not up for the headache of hacking it right now, so I move on to their personal devices. They both have that fucking video of me on their phones and it makes my skin crawl.

Digging through Fintan’s phone first; since he has more videos, I find something I wasn’t expecting.

Interesting. There is one video with a guy, and… wait, is that Fintan in his white mask?

Is he bi? Where’s Kieran?

An unwanted wave of jealousy floods my system, and it only flames the fires of my anger. The extra phone vibrates on mydesk and a logo pops up on the screen for a few seconds before the screen dims again. The logo is reminiscent of a woman’s lips around a ball gag with the word “Hush” in neon letters.

Hush? What the fuck is this? My curiosity is officially piqued.

I immediately lose interest in rummaging through their personal devices and plug the mystery phone into my computer so I can try hacking it. After some time, I finally unlock the device.

I need to know whatHushis. I tap on the most recent notification, holding my breath when I see it’s a payment. They just got $50 000 paid into their account and the reference forces the air from my lungs.

Amount: $50 000. Reference: HushContentK&F-payment4.

Hush content?

Did they sell the video of me?

What is this?

I scour the internet for “Hush”. Nothing. I find nothing on any of the usual search engines. I rub my hands over my face in frustration and check the cameras in the basement. They are still out cold but they won’t be for long.

I stare at them for long seconds when it dawns on me. Perhaps the dark web is a better place to search for this…site?

I get up from my desk chair and start preparing for thegameI want to play with my new pets. I will give them the opportunity to come clean before I deep-dive into the darkest corners of the internet.

I need answers, and by the time I’m done with them, they should tell me all I need to know - if they know what’s good for them.